Titan
by Eddie Malone
Summary: Picking up directly where Goliath left off Titan will take Alex and Deryn off to Africa where a rebellion is taking place along with strange experiments. M for Lemon, Language, Violence gonna be graphic people and Drug use.
1. Chapter 1: Sad News

Titan

The cilia were fluttering furiously as the massive airship began a turn hard to starboard. Deryn's hair started to get pushed into her eyes, when she pushed it back a message lizard was clambering the rat lines towards her. She watched it scramble between the feet of the riggers almost getting stepped on a few times. It reached her and spoke in the captain's voice. "Mr. Sharp please report to the bridge." "Yes sir…" she responded in her almost girlish voice "…end message." The lizard ran off back towards the bridge.

She started moving along the spine of the massive whale, clipping and unclipping her carabineer as she moved along the lines. Walking had always helped clear her head and allow her to concentrate on important things, for example Alex. She was feeling as though a huge cloud had whisked her away to some far off land, and for the first time in her life she felt like a girl. A full on in the flesh girl who braids her hair, wears skirts, and snickers at boys with her gaggle of friends. She was in love with Alex and the kiss had just cemented that between the two of them. Alex had left in a hurry after they kissed red faced and mumbling under his breath. It had rather ruined the moment but in Deryn's mind the important thing was that it had happened. Deryn had been standing there for about a full hour just thinking things over; she had to talk to Alex once they were back in their room.

She pushed her way through the halls, the usual hustle and bustle of an airship at noon. Riggers were moving big loops of rope topside and sergeants were barking orders to marines to move out of the way or to grab a box of something or other. The ever present smells of the ship changed from section to section. Near the bridge the pungent odor of bird clart or the digestive fluids deep in the beastie were faint; here is where most of the officers lived. Well treated fabricated mahogany and cherry wood wafted their smells out of the rooms every time an officer opened and closed a door. Leather, shoe and brass polish seemed to emanate from every fiber on their uniforms, the traditional deep blue color the Air Service borrowed from the Royal Navy. Here and there the Khaki of the Royal Marines would also be visible.

Deryn reached the hatch to the bridge and climbed down the enclosed ladder to the gondola, fluffy white clouds drifting past outside the windows. She reached the door to the bridge and knocked, a moment later some fresh faced Lieutenant opened the door. He motioned her in and promptly left, Captain Hobbes noticed her entrance and herded everyone out of the bridge. What could be so important that he would send the bridge crew out?

Captain Hobbes motioned to a chair next to a table in the corner of the gondola. The both moved and sat down; Deryn opened her mouth to speak but was cut off abruptly by the Captain.

"Mr. Sharp I'm afraid I'm the bearer of ill news, I've never been good at this sort of thing so I'll just come out and say it."

Deryn's stomach dropped to the floor, had they found out she was a girl? Did some random rigger see her and Alex kiss topside? Or was it that bastard Volger who revealed her secret? She braced herself for what she thought was to be the end of her career.

"Dylan, your cousin Jaspert was killed yesterday aboard the H.M.A.S. Minotaur. I understand that you two were extremely close and his funeral will be postponed until we return to London so you can be there. I know how it feels to lose a loved one in the line of duty; my own brother was killed in the Sudan during that war, nasty business but not much we can do about it but remember those we lost."

Deryn was shattered this was almost worse than being discovered, Jaspert was dead and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.

"Sir, may I ask. How did he die?" She was hardly able to hold back the tears.

"His ship was destroyed by ground Ack-Ack while flying over Yipers. If it's any consolation his death was quick, most likely painless."

Deryn said something that was meant to be a thank you but nothing but gurgles escaped her throat. She stood up and left the bridge, as she walked the gauntlet of officers waiting outside she just stared straight down. Worst thing now was to cry uncontrollably and sound like a girl doing it. When she left to gondola she walked slowly back towards her cabin, as she did she made an abrupt turn down another hall towards Dr. Busk's office. Deryn hoped he wasn't in.


	2. Chapter 2: The South Africa Debacle

Chapter 2: The South Africa Debacle

Authors Note: Ok a few things, I hope to publish at least one chapter a week. Either on Monday or Tuesday but it really comes down to my schedule. Second if someone could get me a timeline of the books so I can get dates and timing correct that would be great. Third there will be a lot of historical things that I'm going to assume happened even with the dramatic change in history. So on that note I will not be putting too much exposition in to why certain things are happening as the characters are expected to know this kind of stuff, but I would be more than happy to point you in the right direction for historical context. Other than that hope you enjoy this next chapter.

If there was one thing Alex would rather not be doing right now it was talking with Dr. Barlow. Her office was a converted cabin with jars, papers, tubes and pencils strewn about her roll top desk. The rest of the rest of the room was an equal shambles; her usual clean and proper self apparently was left outside the door every time she came in. It was important stuff they were talking about, mostly what he and Deryn would be doing as the lady boffin's assistant at the Zoological Society. He was half listening to her anyway; he was more concerned about what he and Deryn were going to talk about tonight. She would probably make fun of him for leaving so abruptly. Well it wasn't his fault; he had told Dr. Barlow that they would talk today at eleven and here he was. He had been late, and when Barlow asked why Alex just looked away and said it had been nothing. Though he had a feeling that his body language had given everything away entirely, because she did not pursue the subject of his lateness as she usually would.

"Alex? Alex? Alex are you not listening to me?"

"Hmmm…oh yes, I'm sorry you were saying."

"I was saying that it would be beneficial for Deryn to maintain her ruse as a boy for as long as possible. Though if her chest fills out anymore we won't be able to say she's just fit."

Alex blushed a bit at this, still some Clanker Royalty left in him after all. Any talk of sex or body parts of that nature was bad etiquette for anyone of his stature back in Vienna. His father had only told him about sex a year ago, the conversation went along the lines of sex is for children and children only there is to be no enjoyment in it. Then his sexual education had been thrown in the complete opposite end of the spectrum by Hoffman and Bauer. Back when they were escaping from Vienna Alex would hear the two of them talk about women and what all they had done. He was sometimes appalled by what he heard but after a while he assumed most of what they were talking about was completely normal, he just didn't know it at the time. Yet another subject to bring up with Deryn. His thoughts were cut short by a message lizard that apparently had snuck up on them. The Captains message piped through its mouth.

"Dr. Barlow please come to the maps room, an urgent message has come through. Normally this message would be of no importance to you but we are changing coarse and you need to know why."

"I'll be right there Captain and I'm bringing Alex with me. End message."

Alex looked confused; the message was for Dr. Barlow not him.

"Why am I coming along?"

"Well you are my de facto assistant you need to know everything I know."

Alex was never one to argue with Dr. Barlow and he was not about to start now. He shrugged his shoulders and followed the boffin to the map room, her loris perched on her shoulder. On the way there they bumped in to Dr. Busk who was feeling around on the floor for something. The good doctor was in a bit of a fluster. Dr. Barlow stopped and asked what the matter was. He locked up and blushed, obviously embarrassed at his puttering around on the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. I can't seem to find those morphine syrette's you gave me Alex. I thought they might have fallen out of my bag so I'm retracing my steps."

Alex remembered giving the syrette's to the doctor after the rescue in the Alps. Morphine certainly was not a Darwinist medicine by any stretch of the imagination, but Dr. Busk held no bias either way. Medicine was medicine in his book.

"Hope you find them Dr. Busk." Alex said.

"Thank you Alex, have a good day Dr. Barlow."

So Alex and Dr. Barlow continued on to the map room and left Dr. Busk to continue aimlessly grouping around the hall way. The ships activity hadn't decreased since he had left from the topside. If anything it had increased, more Marines were out and about moving things. Mostly crates full of weapons and ammo, Alex figured that this all had to do with whatever course change had happened.

The map room was full of officers; two big maps were situated on a large table in the middle of the room. One was a map of Africa with plots and courses laid out. The other was a more detailed map of southern Africa from the Belgian Congo on down. All the officers were talking amongst them self's about what all this could be about. Captain Hobbes was speaking with Captain Peter Hobart, the commander of the Royal Marines on the ship, when one of the falconers came in with a large messenger eagle. It was strikingly similar to the eagle the Russians had used except this one only had one head. The room suddenly became very quiet and the only sound was the occasional squak from the eagle. Captain Hobbes moved towards the table and began to explain the situation.

"Gentlemen, Dr. Barlow, thank you all for coming. This is an urgent matter which we must attend to immediately. Two hours ago this eagle came with a message from Governor-General The Viscount Gladstone. I'll have the eagle repeat the message."

He motioned to the falconer who prompted the eagle, its beak opened wide and a crackling voice came through its gullet.

"Captain Hobbes, a situation has arisen here in the Union of South Africa. Afrikaner Clankers have risen up in revolt and are trying to move on Bloemfontein from Transvaal. The Admiralty has given permission for me to requisition any airship that I deem necessary to quell this revolt. It's a trifling matter no more, I'm sure our own troops could handle it but a show of force like the Leviathan would be more than sufficient to quell and dissuade any rebels. You may take any measures you see fit to prepare yourself for this task; you are to report to Cape Colony by July 15th. You shall receive further orders then."

So the Afrikaners had done it again, Alex thought to himself. Sounds like it'll turn in to another slug fest like the last Bore War. The captain started speaking again.

"I'm sure the message speaks for its self, I will be keeping you informed on the situation and giving orders as are needed. If there are no questions then I bid you all good day."

There were no questions, everyone filed out to their posts or rooms and talked about what this could all mean and what the ship would have to do to stop it. Dr. Barlow told Alex that she would send a lizard if she needed anything. Alex decided that Deryn was probably back in the cabin by now and that they needed to have a good long talk. He was so happy that things were going well, he couldn't possibly think of anything that could go wrong.


	3. Chapter 3: Comfortably Numb

Chapter 3: Comfortably Numb

Authors Note: Two things. One- Ridley13 pointed out to me that I had been using Alex as opposed to Alek, I used Alex because my brain saw Alek and read Alex so that's what I used. From now on though I will be using Alek, in keeping with the story. Two- I will be switching perspectives in this chapter, it'll be obvious but I figured I'd tell you guys first. As always enjoy this chapter.

Deryn had decided that syrette's were the best way to get morphine right in to the vein with no hassle. The needles she'd used before might slip and miss the vein, or you might pass out with one in and start to bleed out. Now with her sixth injection in she could feel the familiar numbness casting a shroud over her. Her physical senses were dulled; she could not hear the low rumble of the engines or feel them vibrating the bed. The celling of her room was becoming foggier as the seconds passed. Deryns' emotions started to fade away as well. She could not feel the pain and loneliness of having lost her Da and now Jaspert. The stress of being a midshipmen and hiding her secret began to melt away. Even her love for Alek seemed to be as distant as the far side of the world was to her.

She lazily rolled on her bed to face the wall, her muscles not seeming to comply with the scrambled messages her brain was struggling sending out. The last of the syrette's was in her hand, she fumbled trying to get the cover off the needle. Her hand gripped it too tightly and the glass shattered in her hand gouging deep in to it. Her fingers started twitching and blood began to flow from the wounds, she watched as the blood moved through the creases and wrinkles of her and off her palm. She naturally could not feel the glass digging in to her bone. Deryn let her hand fall over her torso and drifted off to her self medicated bless, not hearing Alek open the door to the room.

Alek saw Deryn lying on the bed facing the wall, he assumed she was asleep and decided to leave her that way. He walked past Bovril snoring lightly on his pillow and patted him gently on his head. Looking at his wardrobe and bed it was an absolute mess, hell his entire part of the living quarters was a train wreck reminiscent of the Orient Express. He decided to clean up a bit until Deryn woke up and then they would talk. In his wardrobe after much hanging and folding he found the clothes he had been wearing when the Leviathan rescued him and the other renegade Austrians from the Swiss Alps. They seemed so small even after a little over a year; he held the black trousers up against his legs and looked in the mirror inside the wardrobe. The legs of them stopped an easy inch from his ankles. He chuckled and threw them over in the pile of things he was disposing of. The ship vibrated suddenly and caught Alek off balance and nearly threw him on the floor. He muttered a curse in German at the turbulence. The shudder must have woken Deryn because he heard her mumble something from her bed. He walked over to the small oak desk in the corner of his space and grabbed a ruler from the center drawer. He poked her in the back.

"Come on sleepy head wake up, you'll never believe where were going now."

No response, he poked her again and still no movement. He took a step closer and crushed something under his shoe. Alek looked down and noticed shards of glass were on the wood here his foot had been. Then he noticed the other five syrette's on the floor and he realized what was happening. She was overdosing on Dr. Busks morphine. He panicked and rolled Deryn on to her back and saw her eyes wide open staring at nothing. Then he looked at her chest and saw her blood, he flowed the trail back to her hand still lightly pumping the life out of her. He ran over to his old clothes and grabbed his shirt and ripped off the arm. He got back to her and started picking the glass out tears rolling down his cheeks while doing it. Each shard he pulled out seemed to make the blood come faster, he felt the warmth of it on his own hands and the pungent irony smell filled his nose with each breath. Deryn was the only person who he truly loved and would do anything for her, now he might lose her and the worst part was that there was almost nothing he could do about. He gingerly wrapped her hand with the shirt sleeve the blood seeping through the thin silk.

Not knowing what to do he scooped her upper body up in his arms and sat down on the bed next to her. He slowly rocked her back and forth silently crying not knowing what to do, this was the most shocking thing he had seen and he did not understand why she had done it. He kissed her on the top of her head and nuzzled her short blond hair, his silent crying turning in to sobs and heaving breaths. Bovril jumped up to the bed and curled up in Deryns' lap gently cooing, echoing Aleks' pain as though he understood what he was feeling. Alek stayed in this state for a while just holding Deryn thinking he might lose her, he didn't go for help from Dr. Busk for fear of revealing to him that not only had she stolen the morpheme but also that she was a girl. Then he thought that Dr. Barlow might be able to help somehow, but he couldn't bear to leave Deryn in this state alone where someone might walk in and find her. It occurred to him that Bovril could help when he nosed his hand and looked up at him with his big sappy eyes.

"Bov, go to Dr. Barlow and tell her… help!"

He could hardly stop hyperventilating to get out one sentence, but Bovril must have understood as he scurried through a message lizard tube off to find the lady boffin. He was left alone with Deryns' limp body, he started begging her to stay alive weather she could hear him or not. Alek was so much in shock he slid back in to German doing it.

"Bitte, bitte nicht jetz. Lass mich nicht Deryn, nicht nach allem, was wir durchgemacht haben. Bitte. Bitte."


	4. Chapter 4: Explinations

Chapter 4: Explanations

Authors Note: Since there is really no definitive (to my knowledge) time line of the Leviathan series I'm more or less flying by the seat of my pants here. It has been roughly a year since the beginning of Leviathan and most of the descriptions fit summer so the date currently in the story is July 7th 1915.

Pain. Excruciating pain in her hand is how Deryn woke up. Her eyes were so dry she squinted hard to get some tears to moisten them up. After a few good blinks she tried to remember what had happened. She had just found out Jaspert was dead and walked to Dr. Busks office…then like a ton of bricks it hit her. She had slipped; two years of staying clean were gone. The only thing she hoped was the no one had found her, least of all Alek. How the hell would she be able to explain this to him? The sound of sniffling to her left made her heart stop; Deryn looked over and saw Alek sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. Alek had not noticed she was awake yet.

"Alek." Deryn called softly.

His head slowly rose from his hands and she could see how red his eyes and nose were from constant crying. He gave her a look that was relieved and furious at the same time.

"Thank god it's working, I'll be right back." His voice was snappish and his regal tone had returned.

He left the room, leaving Deryn with more questions than she had woken up with. As she sat and pondered what had she just done she began to feel this heavy throbbing in her thigh. Looking down there was this large black blob attached to her leg from her hip to her knee. Its black leathery skin rose and fell slightly in time with her heart beats. She poked it but it gave no response, whatever it was it didn't hurt like the rest of her did. The pain, she concluded, was from the massive amount of morphine she had dumped in to her system, over 120mg. She chuckled to herself. Strange how a numbing agent hurt so much after it wore off. Looking at her left hand it had a blood stained bandage on it; she shuddered to think how she had received this wound. A furry paw grabbed her right hand; Deryn looked down and saw Bovril. Bov crawled up on to her chest and curled up in a ball. She petted him, glad that he wouldn't judge her for her actions.

The turning of the door knob cut short and bonding moment she was having with the loris. Dr. Barlow entered with her loris on her shoulder who promptly jumped on top of a cabinet followed by Bovril. Close behind her was Alek, his face had returned to its natural color but his eyes had not lost the fury in them. The lady boffin was icy and calculating as usual, no emotion to be read from her face. Pulling out what looked like a tongue depressor she lifted a section of the blob off Deryns leg. Its underside was spotted with yellow tubes that pinched as they were removed. After a moment's inspection Dr. Barlow looked at Deryns face, she lifted one of her eyelids and nodded in approval. She took Deryns hand and slowly unwrapped the bandage on her hand. The skin underneath was revealed and Deryn wondered what she had did, some basic stitches held the large cuts closed while blue salve had been smeared on the smaller ones. The boffin applied more of the blueish salve on the cuts and rapped her hand back up. There was a moment of silence then Dr. Barlow spoke.

"Well there is nothing I'm going to say that Alek won't say also. Just keep applying this salve to the cuts and don't move the leach from where it is. Stay in bed for the rest of the day, I've already spoke to the Captain and you are exempt for duties today and tomorrow. He thinks you are mourning your cousins' death. Yes he told me about that. I'm going to assume that this episode was triggered by it. I'll be back before bed to see how you are doing."

The lady boffin stood up extended and arm for her loris to crawl up on and left the room. Deryn sat up and turned to face Alek who had been silently sitting on his bed.

"Well go on…" she started "…what are you thinking?"

He took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eye.

"Do you know what the worst part about my parent's death was? It was that I could not be there with them, in their final moments to tell them how much I loved them. I took solace in the fact there was nothing I realistically could have done to stop it. But with you, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if you had died on me today knowing that I could have just arrived a few minutes earlier to stop you. You scared the living hell out of me, don't ever do what you did again do you understand."

Deryn nodded slowly knowing he was absolutely right about everything.

"You are all I have left, if you died I would move on but you would linger with me for the rest of my days. That's all I have to say on the subject, but I believe you at least owe me an explanation for your actions."

Deryn really didn't want to; all it would do is dredge up old memories mostly bad ones. Considering what she had just put Alek and Dr. Barlow through it seemed reasonable, but just an abridged version some things would be just too strange and painful to talk about.

"Aye I'll tell you, but just this once that's all I owe you. When my Da died in the accident my brother Jaspert and I, well we got really depressed. My Da was the best man we ever knew and like I told you before I didn't talk for a solid month after what happened. Jaspert had a friend who worked at the drug store a few blocks down from our flat, and he said he could give us some Clanker morphine they carried as a specialty item to 'help us through'. After our first time we were hooked, we spent most of Da's inheritance to get more. The store had to import it special from Germany so it was barking expensive; I did things I'm not proud of to get more money. Jaspert started to go around and beg for any extra pennies he could get and even stole some from people no better than us. Even after Jaspert joined the service he still did some occasionally. It was when I decided to join that we both went clean, that was a difficult process its self but we both make it through. I guess his death made me want it again."

Even in the middle of her story she was chocking up and her usual strong, steady voice was reduced to wavering and almost whimpering. Her last sentence was so airy that she wasn't sure that Alek even heard it, but it didn't matter she knew he got the message. A few tears ran down her cheeks as Alek came over and put his arm around her. He rubbed her arm in understanding for the sadness she was feeling, and at the moment it was the most comforting thing she could think of. Crying was not something she normally did but right now she could not help it, the tears just came out like a waterfall. Deryn buried her head in to Alek's chest and sobbed. He spoke to her in a much changed voice, one of comfort and understanding.

"I know how you feel; I know what you are going through. But you can't let this happen again; if you ever need someone to talk to I will always be here for you."

His words brought Deryn down a few notches and calmed her down. It was good to know that this secret of hers was finally revealed to someone who would understand.

"Hey." She said with a quiver in her voice. "At least now we're living up to our agreement of no secrets right?"

They both chuckled and held each other knowing they would be there to support the other no matter what, and for Deryn this meant the world to her.


	5. Chapter 5: The Yanks Are Coming!

Chapter 5: The Yanks Are Coming! The Yanks Are Coming!

Authors Note: I apologize for this chapter being so late. What with school and all I could not find time this week to do it. But I hope you will forgive me for my tardiness, and as always enjoy!

It was about four in the afternoon when Alek decided to leave Deryn back in the room. They had chatted for an hour or so after she told him why she did what she did. It was a relief to know what she and Jaspert had done, and thought that Deryn sharing her story had brought them closer together. Now he was off to see Count Volger for some long overdue fencing lessons. Moving about the hallways and corridors of the ship he overheard the most recent scuttlebutt from the crew. Most of it sounded absolutely outrageous; there was one common thread through it all though. It was that the Americans would be sending support for this expedition. If this was true Alek was excited for it, for a long time he had heard about the American war machine and how it was the perfect combination of Darwinist and Clanker technology.

That was more beside the point, what Alek was really worried about was telling Volger about his renouncement of the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Alek reached the door to Volgers room and went in. At his dinner table Volger was busy reading a copy of the New York Times, on the front page was a picture of Teslas laboratory or what was left of it. Without even dropping the paper Volger commented on Aleks arrival.

"I thought you had forgotten about me."

Alek sat down across the table from Volger. Waiting for the right moment to spring the news to him.

"I came here for some fencing practice and something else but that can wait."

Now Volger decided to put down his paper. He gave him a questioning look.

"Well know I must know what it is you need to speak to me about, fencing can wait."

Alek shouldn't have spoken so soon, there was no way Volger was going to budge from finding out what Alek had to say. Shifting uncomfortably in his chair Alek could feel his face burning red. The trick was to break the news easily and in a positive light. With Volger, Alek had a snowflakes chance in hell of doing it that way. The best way would be the most direct and blunt one.

"There's no easy way to put this, I've given up any claim I had to the Austro-Hungarian throne. I made this with clear conscience…" Which he knew was a lie; throwing away the scroll had been a bit of a spur of the moment thing. "…and have no way of going back. I am now and will forever be a commoner."

Expecting the wildcount to explode with rage Alek closed his eyes for a few seconds, waiting for all of Volgers reasons why he was wrong to renounce his claim. When he opened his eyes, Volger was still calmly seated across from him newspaper in hand. Volger picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip, the gears and cogs in his brain turning and moving.

"What precisely did you do with the Papal Scroll?"

"I was topside and threw it in to the wind.

"Completely irreversible."

Volger let the air hang between them for a moment before speaking again

"Under normal circumstances I would be speaking to you in a much different tone, but I think you should read one of these articles."

Sliding the paper over to Alek, Volger pointed out a certain article entitled "Wilsons 13 Points". They were what American President Woodrow Wilson decreed what the United States was fighting for. Alek began to read them, very American ideals most of them. The colonies of all belligerent nations should receive a chance at autonomy, France was to receive Alsace-Lorraine from Germany, and then he read the tenth point.

_10. The peoples of__Austria-Hungary__, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development._

Alek looked back up at Volger who was still sitting quietly sipping his coffee. Alek could see the pain in Volgers eyes, an emotion he had never seen the wildcount give before. Inwardly Alek was relieved even if he had not thrown away the Papal Scroll it would not have mattered. If America got its way, which he was certain they would, then there would be no Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the war. There would be completely independent democratic states for all the nationalities with in the empire currently or the land they lived in would be attached to a larger country of their nationality. Czechs, Hungarians, Austrians, Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians, Serbs, Bosnians, Croats, Slovenes, Italians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Turks, Germans, Montenegrins, Albanians, and Bulgarians. This was something his father had strived for and had his father taken the throne it most certainly would have happened. The war that Austria started to retain their place in the sun would be its undoing.

Alek let out a little smile that he probably shouldn't have. Volger saw it and stood up.

"You may have a future outside the empire but what do I have, nothing unless they keep the nobility which I highly doubt. I have nothing! Please leave me for now; I must rest for the night."

Alek looked at the clock on the wall, it only read 4:15 but it was best to leave Volger now. Standing up Alek went over to the door and left.

Walking through the walls was one of Aleks favorite pass times, he found it calming there was no other way to describe it. He wanted to check on Deryn but decided not to she needed her rest. The ship never ceased to amaze him, he had never quite gotten over the fact that he was inside a living creature. Sure his bias against the Darwinists had gone away but the fascination with their creations still existed deep inside of him. Lots of times it was the little things that struck him, perhaps the glow worms in the darker parts. Or maybe the bacteria in its stomach that produced the hydrogen, whatever it was he wanted to know more about it.

Going down a hall near the aft of the ship Alek rounded a corner bumped in to Mr. Newkirk who was carrying a stack of books. The books went flying. Alek and Newkirk got down and started to gather them up.

"Oh hello Alek, sorry I didn't see you there."

"Quite alright no harm done. What are all these books on?"

He took one and read the binding on the back. The Spanish-American War by Colonel M. Wadsworth. Another said American Airships and Aircraft by Tim Boddy. Alek gave them to Newkirk who remade his stack and stood up, explaining to Alek why he had all the books.

"Well I figured if the Americans were to be fighting with us I should know a little more about them and their history."

"I suppose I should too. Will you let me know if there is anything interesting or important?"

"Of course I will, by the way have you seen Dylan? I haven't seen him all day."

"Oh umm…" Alek fumbled to find a logical excuse. "He took a tumble topside. That damn wind caught Der-erumm Dylan and blew him over. He's back in the room resting."

"Well I hope he's alright."

"Yes. Yes quite fine, should be up and about tomorrow. Even if he can't he still will, you know how stubborn he can be."

"Yes, very. Well see you tomorrow. I'll see if I can find some information for you. Cheers!"

"Good afternoon then."

Alek continued on his previous course. Christ had he almost slipped and said Deryn instead of Dylan? He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Newkirk hadn't noticed and he bought the story that was all that mattered.

He continued walking and musing for a few hours. His mind always ranged from many things, all interconnected. Music was always playing in his head, a strange trait of his. Some people get songs stuck in their head but he could remember entire scores of music. Beethoven was running through his head at the moment. His Symphony N.7, more specifically the Allegretto part. He had gone with his parents to the Wiener Konzerthaus to hear the N.7 when he was seven or so. Like most people the Allegretto stuck out to him as an amazing piece within the entirety of the score, his mother was one of them. She would have it played in the Palace whenever she fancied it. Alek would join her when the court musicians played, and sit on her lap. His father would join when he could but affairs of state usually took precedence over music.

His eyes grew damp to remember such things, he never usually did. Since that night last year he had hardly had time for reminiscing on the past. He stopped thinking about his parents; he was contradicting his own rule of dwelling on the past. Alek decided to head back to the room, maybe Deryn was awake and they could talk more, he wasn't sure. Then a thought crossed through his head. Perhaps, if all went well, he and Deryn could go to America a few years from now. Why not? They could start anew like Klopp, Hoffman, Bauer and every other immigrant. They could go to a quiet little prairie town in the middle of the country a place where no one knew who they were. Yes that was what he wanted, to go somewhere where no one knew who he was.

End Notes: I know that there were 14 points in Wilson's points but one of them involved the splitting up of the Ottoman Empire similar to what happened to Austria-Hungary. We know that there is no Empire and they aren't in the war so I just dropped it and said there were 13. Also mad brownie points to whoever can find my Clue references!


	6. Chapter 6: USAS Enterprise

Chapter 6: The USAS Enterprise

Authors Note: I HAVE RETURNED! Wow did school punch me in the face, more work than I knew what to do with. Enough with my excuses, here's the next chapter. As always enjoy!

The door to the cabin closed with a loud bang waking Deryn up. She looked over and saw Dr. Barlow and Alek standing next her bed. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at the blob, still pulsating, still being a damned bloody nuisance.

"Well at least you are spryer this morning." Dr. Barlow commented.

"Aye, I do feel better. Now would you kindly remove this barking blob!" As she gestured toward it.

The boffin pulled a large glass bottle out of her medical bag, along with a smaller vile of a greenish fluid. She motioned for Deryn to stand up and pull her pajama pants down. She did so and Alek quickly found the other side of the room very interesting. Deryn wondered why Dr. Barlow had not returned the night before.

"Where were you last night?"

Unscrewing both containers she responded.

"I was at dinner with the Captain and his senior officers, I'm sorry. But I could hardly tell them why I needed to leave early."

A few drops were all that was needed for the blob to come off. Dr. Barlow caught it in the larger jar and screwed the cap back on.

"Right, that should do the trick. You are all clean, well your blood is at least and that's the important bit."

Deryn pulled her pants back up and Alek turned back around, his cheeks still beet red.

"What was the thing?" she inquired.

"One of my many pet projects that I brought on board, I've yet to name it but it was obviously derived from the common leech. It attaches to your capillaries just beneath the skin and sucks out the blood, filters all impurities out, then sends it back through."

Deryn nodded, glad to know the Barlow had such a thing. The boffin continued, but in a sterner tone.

"I hope I never have to use this on you again Deryn, will you make sure of that?"

"Yes, mam, I will."

"Excellent now let's put all this behind us, last thing we need is another incident and having to cover again."

Alek and Deryn agreed, at this point Deryn just wanted to forget anything ever happened.

"Now there are a few other things to be discussed at the moment. We are to be meeting with the American airship USAS Enterprise tomorrow, and the captain of the American vessel has graciously invited us to dinner with him as his senior staff. Captain Hobbes, Commander Krilly, Captain Hobart of the Marines, Alek and I will be attending as of the last meeting I had. Alek I will be taking you along because this will be a good education on the sort of duties you and Deryn will be performing as my assistants. As for you Deryn the captain wanted me to inquire if you would be up to coming along as well, the American captain has heard all about you and would like very much to meet you. Do you think you'll be up to it?"

She gave Deryn a pondering look, one she had seen before that said _I'm telling you to be up for it not asking._ Deryn nodded her approval to the plan, besides it's not every day you get to see another nation's airship.

"Good, I will inform the captain of the good news. In the meantime get your Class A uniform ready, can't have the Americans thinking were a bunch of slobs."

So she trotted off with her loris upon her shoulder. Deryn looked over at Alek who had remained silent throughout the conversation.

"Well?" she asked.

"Well, what?"

"What do you think about seeing the Enterprise? Sounds like great fun."

Alek chucked and rummaged through his desk looking for one of the books that Newkirk had given him on American airships. He leafed the pages until he settled on one particular one. Walking back to Deryn he gestured for her to sit down. She got a feeling this was going to be really interesting or incredibly boring

"This is the type of airship the Enterprise is, a Jackson Class Carrier. First of its kind, it carries aircraft to far flung places."

"So what, every Clanker airship had planes."

"Ahhh, but this one doesn't have just two or three, it carries 50 Shiloh fighters and 10 Custer bombers. She can carry over 500 troops along with the aircraft and 20 light walkers. This is a behemoth of a ship, only slightly smaller than the Leviathan. It's the biggest class of ships the Americans have, that we know of at least."

Alek was referencing how secretive the Americans were about their military. After their Civil War they had retreated into deep isolationism, so much so that they were quite unprepared for the Spanish-American War of 1898. This rattled their cage, and while they remained very isolationist the government expanded the military, and its spending by nearly 500%. In a little over a decade they went from an aging relic using the oldest uniforms, equipment, and weapons to the pinnacle of technology. For all their building they kept most of it under a shroud of secrets, most of their best weapons were still unknown. The thing that most interested Deryn was to see how the Americans integrated Darwinist and Clanker technology in the ship.

Alek continued describing the ship in its minutia, things even Deryn found dreadfully boring. When he finished it was nearly 9:00 AM and Deryn wanted to get her uniform ready. She pulled it out of a stuffed away corner of the room and gazed at it. Only once before had she worn it, then she looked down at her chest. There was no denying she was bigger and more noticeable. Sliding the jacket on then buttoning it up she, conceded to letting out a few stiches to relieve the pressure. Alek was buried in his book when he looked up and saw what she was doing.

"Why don't you wrap them?" he asked.

"What?"

"Wrap up your chest with some cloth; it'll keep your diddy's down, or make them more noticeable. I don't know, but you could try it."

Deryn felt daft for not having thought of that before, it seemed so simple. A sleeve of her old shirt that no longer fit would do. She grabbed her knife and cut off the strip, then took off her jacket and shirt. Alex once again studied his feet once her shirt came off.

"Oh come on you've got to look at me eventually! Besides I hope to see you with your shirt off soon."

Alex went right back to being a tomato at the last statement. She was holding out the sleeve to him hoping he'd take the hint and help. He got up and strained to keep his eyes level with hers. Bloody Clankers, always with their "rules" about sex, she knew that she'd have to knock some sense in to him. Deryn rapped the front around her chest and brought the tails around back. Alek took them, knotted the ends, and pulled it tight.

"Christ Alek, you don't have to suffocate me."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to pull so hard."

"Ok, let's see how I look."

From the front she didn't look half bad, there was still a bulge but it was back to how it had looked a few months ago. On the back, however, there was a large bulge where the knot from the sleeve was. She grumbled while taking off her jacket. This was no good, either she looked like a lass or the hunchback of Notre Dame. Thanking Alek for his idea she returned to her original plan. The rest of the day was spent checking and rechecking her uniform. She always found something wrong with it. A stray stich here, a piece of lint there, some random blemish that missed her pervious scrutiny. Alek was out for most of the day doing some more research with Newkirk. Those boys were absolutely obsessed with the Americans; she had to admit that it sounded very interesting. Then again nothing could ever replace her beloved Leviathan.

The following morning she woke up at her usual time, around 6:00 AM. Leaving Alek to sleep for another hour or so she got dressed in her Class A's. Deryn went to the lady boffins cabin and went in; as per usual she was buried deep in notes and books. Hardly acknowledging her entrance, she told her that the American ship would be coming in to sight around 10:00, and that a balloon from the Enterprise would pick them up. Deryn was so excited, she realized that the closer the time came the more excited she got. Her only hope was that she wouldn't make a fool of herself in front of everyone.


End file.
